Gunman kills BBC journalist outside Mogadishu hotel

A BBC journalist was shot dead in Somalia while under armed guard, it was revealed today.

Producer Kate Peyton, 39, was shot in the back by a militiaman outside her hotel in Mogadishu only hours after she arrived in the country.

She underwent surgery for a bullet wound but died of internal bleeding a short time later. After the attack, the assailant was chased from the Sahafi Hotel by other militiamen who were guarding Ms Peyton. Witnesses said the gunman escaped in a car.

The motive for the killing is unclear, but only weeks ago Islamic extremists issued a fatwa against any westerners entering the Somalian capital.

Ms Peyton was an experienced producer.

Correspondents who travel in the country usually hire at least 10 armed body guards to accompany them.

She was travelling with a BBC colleague, reporter Peter Greste, to make a series of reports on the troubled east African country. Greste was unharmed in the shooting.

Ms Peyton, who grew up in Suffolk, had worked for the BBC as a producer and reporter for 12 years and was a popular member of the media circle in Johannesburg, where she lived. Her boyfriend is a cameraman from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Today colleagues paid tribute to her. BBC correspondent Fergal Keane said: "She was the kindest, gentlest human being to work with and to have as a friend and I will always treasure her laughter and stories."

Head of BBC News Helen Boaden added: "Kate was one of our most experienced and respected foreign affairs producers who had worked all over Africa and all over the world. She will be greatly missed, both professionally and personally."

A spokesman for Somalian president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed condemned the "cowardly act", saying the killer had made a "very significant mistake".

At least eight foreign journalists have been killed covering Somalia since the overthrow of military ruler Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.

The worst single day was on 12 July 1993, when four news agency journalists were killed by a mob outside a house which had been fired on by US helicopter gunships.

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